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The Capital 
of the Nation 


by the 

Rt. Rev. James E. Freeman, D. D. 

Bishofi of VFashington 




Copyright, 1923, National Geographic Society 

THE NATIONAL CATHEDRAL 

‘Photographed at night by the National geographic Society 

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The Capital of the Nation 

"By the Rt. Rev. James E. Freeman, D. D. 

Bishop of "V Washington 


S LAFAYETTE surveyed from the 
heights of Arlington the site selected 
for the capital of the United States 
of America, he declared that it out¬ 
rivaled for situation, any great capital of the 
world. Could the distinguished Frenchman 
view the site from the same vantage point to¬ 
day, his enthusiasm and admiration would be 
quickened and intensified. We of America have 
perhaps given scant heed to the splendors of our 
capital. Too frequently, we have regarded it 
as the centre of our political action, without fully 
sensing its vast significance and importance as 
one of the mightiest factors in the world s civi¬ 
lization. 



When the World War came, Washington as¬ 
sumed a larger place in the affections of our 


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The Capital of the Nation 

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people than ever before. Since the close of the 
war, the eyes of the peoples of all nations have 
been focused upon Washington, as upon no 
other capital of the world. Quite apart from its 
significance as the seat of our federal govern¬ 
ment, it is rapidly coming to be, from an archi¬ 
tectural and artistic standpoint, one of the most 
beautiful cities in the world. The visitor to 
Washington is greatly impressed as he views its 
wide avenues with their overarching trees, but 
he is still more impressed as he notes the dignity 
and simple beauty of many of its outstanding 
buildings. The far-famed Capitol brings a thrill 
to the beholder, the classic Treasury Building, 
the superb Lincoln Memorial, the soaring Wash¬ 
ington shaft, and the unpretentious, but strange¬ 
ly appealing White House register the everde- 
velopmg and advancing growth of our people 
along artistic lines. Well has this city been 
called the ‘Shrine of the Nation / 1 for here may 
be found as in no other city on this continent, 
those things that appeal to the imagination, and 
that satisfy yearning for the beautiful The 
glory of this city is that it is conceived and de¬ 
veloped along the lines of a well-ordered plan. 


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The Capital of the Natj on 

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America still owes a great debt to LEnfant 
for the amazing skill with which he laid out on 
spacious lines her capital city. True, Wash¬ 
ington is by no means a finished city. The past 
twenty-five years have seen a notable advance 
in its enrichment, and probably more than any 
other period, witnesses to a clearer understand¬ 
ing of the designs of those who planned it. Prob¬ 
ably more consideration and skill are being 
disclosed today m making this city a thing of 
beauty than have been witnessed in any other 
period of its history. A special committee of 
experts supervises and directs every large plan 
that has to do with the enrichment of the city. 


In all the great capitals of the old world, there 
have been erected not only monumental build¬ 
ings for the administration of governmental 
affairs, but among the more commanding and 
outstanding of them, a great temple rises to be 
the conspicuous witness of the spiritual ideals 
and aspirations of the people. Pans has its 
Notre Dame, London its sacred Westminster 
Abbey and St. Paul s, Rome its majestic St. 


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Copyright, 192s, Ernest L. Crandall 

THE CAPITOL IN SUMMER 

“The far-famed Capitol brings a thrill to the beholder'' 








The Capital of the Nation 

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Peters, but up to tbe present time no building 
has been erected in Washington comparable in 
architectural splendor to other public buildings, 
as witness to those spiritual ideals of which we, 
as a people, boast, and for which we hold a 
coveted place m the estimation of the nations of 
the world. 

The late Lord Bryce, whose discriminating 
boohs on American life hold an incomparable 
place in our literature, said to a special envoy 
who came to us during the great war: “You 
will find America a land of ideals / 1 We are 
proud to believe that the great ambassador was 
right. While we have grown amazingly along 
commercial lines, we have not forgotten that the 
things that make a people great are its spiritual 
ideals. We are giving much heed today to in¬ 
stitutions that have to do with culture and re¬ 
finement, such as universities, art galleries and 
conservatories of music, but are we giving like 
heed and consideration to those institutions 
that have to do with the development and en¬ 
richment of the things of character? Are we 


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The Capital of the Nation 

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sacrificing that which witnesses to our highest 
ideals, to our so-called practical conceptions of 
life ? Are we following the best conceptions,— 
conceptions upon which our fathers builded this 
nation, when we create with splendor and 
magnificence vast governmental buildings and 
noble structures that witness to art and liter¬ 
ature, and ignore or treat with indifference those 
buildings that stand for inspiration and our devo¬ 
tion to Him whom we believe to be the source 
and sustainer of our life as a people? However 
men may regard or interpret their religious be¬ 
liefs, they still feel the thrill and inspiration of 
those great temples or shrines that have become 
the centres of a nation’s devotion and the wit¬ 
nesses of its loftiest aspirations. 

Conceived on the finest lines by the greatest 
of modern architects, there is being erected on 
Mount Saint Alban, the most commanding site 
in Washington, such a house of prayer and 
praise. When completed it will be the finest 
building of its hind on this western continent, 
and in beauty of design one of the noblest in 


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Copyright, 1923, Ernest L. Crandall 


THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL 

"Washington is rabidly coming to he one of the most beautiful 

cities in the world 








The Capital of the Nation 

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the world. Already, the apse of this great 
Cathedral has been completed, and while con¬ 
stituting only a fragment of the whole building, 
it witnesses in itself a splendor of archi¬ 
tecture, and is the object of admiration of the 
countless thousands who visit it year by year. 
Beneath this apse stands the completed Beth¬ 
lehem Chapel, wherein services are said daily. 
Notwithstanding the limitation of its space, this 
little Chapel has witnessed more notable gather¬ 
ings during recent years, than any Church in the 
city. Already, it is being regarded as the logical 
place for those services that express in large 
terms our obligations and devotions as a great 
people. 

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The foundations of the entire Cathedral have 
been completed and at the present time the 
noble choir is in process of construction. It has 
been said by the contractors, who have the work 
in hand, that the entire building can be com- 
pleted within a period of five years. To do this 
will require the raising of a fund of approximate¬ 
ly ten million dollars. The property, whereon 
this Cathedral, with its schools and other build- 


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The Capital of the Nat / on 

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mgs—already erected—stand, comprises sixty- 
five acres, the largest property of its kind used 
for such purposes in the world. When the Ca¬ 
thedral is finished, it will be the most outstand¬ 
ing and conspicuous building in the capital. Its 
great towers will rise hundreds of feet above 
the levels of the city itself. 

In an age that is so utterly materialistic and 
utilitarian as ours, there are those who cannot 
see the wisdom of creating such a splendid fabric 
for the sole purpose of satisfying the artistic and 
the devotional, or for the occasional uses to 
which it may be put for public services. These 
same critics might, with possibly more forceful 
argument, inveigh against the erection of a noble 
memorial to Lincoln, or the building of a mighty 
shaft to the memory of Washington. If they 
persisted in their argument, they might main¬ 
tain that great art galleries, visited by compara¬ 
tively few, or costly structures infrequently vis¬ 
ited and used by great patriotic societies, are 
both unnecessary and out of consonance with 
our very practical views of life. This world 


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The Capital of the Nation 

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would be shorn of its adornments, if these so- 
called practical folk had their way. 

We believe it can be successfully maintained 
that the erection of a great Protestant Cathedral 
in Washington is related immediately and vital¬ 
ly to the largest and most intimate concerns of 
our life as a people. Men are still susceptible 
to that which expresses the noblest ideals of life, 
and there is nothing that so completely appeals 
to their imagination as a mighty building whose 
every line suggests prayer and devotion. As a 
state cannot exist without well-ordered govern¬ 
ment, and as well-ordered government implies 
fit centres for its administration, so religion de¬ 
mands not only well conceived and dignified 
forms for its expression, but fit and noble build¬ 
ings in which to give this expression its noblest 
and finest setting. This is more largely true of 
Washington than of any city in the nation. To 
the capital we may reasonably look for that which 
witnesses to the highest and noblest expression 
of our spiritual ideals. 


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Copyright, lgzz, Ernest L. Crandall 


WASHINGTON MONUMENT 

“The Soaring VPashington Shaft'' in Sfiring Time 







The Capital of the Nation 

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This Cathedral should ultimately come to be 
the logical centre for those pronouncements that 
express our highest obligations not only to our 
own people, but to the nations of the world. No 
other building in Washington could be compared 
with it for spaciousness and dignity, and all that 
suggests the finest and truest in our life as a 
people. From its pulpit should be heard the 
greatest prophets, clerical and lay, that the world 
recognizes and honors. Within its walls should 
assemble from time to time bodies that have 
to do with the most momentous issues, national 
and international. It should stand as the finest 
expression not only of our Christian faith, but 
of our spirit of democracy and universal brother¬ 
hood. 

Ultimately, it should become the place of 
sepulture for our great and honored dead. No 
building in England is more tenderly cherished 
than Westminster Abbey—not alone because it 
is a building of rare artistic beauty, but because 
it is hallowed by memories of associations that 
have become sacred to the people of Great 
Britain. The great Washington Cathedral is 
designed for like purposes, and certainly there is 



The Capital of the Nati on 

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no building in America more properly placed for 
memorials to our worthily distinguished men and 
women than this great Cathedral. 

Apart from this, we believe it will be witness 
in itself to all that is implied in the term, "Amer¬ 
icanism." Much has been said during these 
recent years concerning the importance of em¬ 
phasizing the unity and solidarity of our national 
life. More and more we are coming to realize 
our national consciousness. No building on this 
continent so completely expresses this national 
consciousness, as the capitol itself, but the capi- 
tol, great and significant as it is, is but the ex¬ 
pression of our material wealth and power; the 
house in which we enact laws for our federal 
government. Supremely important as this is, we 
submit that it is not sufficient in itself. We have 
grown great as a people, and in an incredibly 
short space of time we have come to rank as one 
of the foremost powers in the world. With our 
increase of wealth and influence, there has come 
a corresponding increase in our responsibility to 


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The Capital of the Nation 

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the sisterhood of nations. Surely, in our capital 
city, there should be that which should be witness 
to our unfailmgf confidence in Him in whose 
hands are the issues of life. 

Americanism connotes more than money 
power or man power. It interprets to our con¬ 
sciousness all that is implied in a living faith in 
a living God. The Washington Cathedral is to 
be the greatest expression of this faith, the finest 
and truest interpreter of Americanism at its best. 


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